Shortly before partial legalization
Constitutional Court upholds 1994 cannabis decision
7/11/2023 3:29 p.m
The legalization of cannabis is in the starting blocks: both limited self-cultivation and visiting a cannabis social club should then be allowed. But now the Federal Constitutional Court is rejecting submissions from three district courts against the 1994 cannabis ban.
The Federal Constitutional Court is sticking to its almost 30-year-old cannabis case law. In a recent decision, the Karlsruhe judges rejected submissions from three district courts against the ban on cannabis products, which was confirmed in 1994. The third chamber of the second senate of the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the submissions were not substantiated enough to prompt an examination of the applicable case law of the Federal Constitutional Court from 1994.
The district courts of Bernau near Berlin, Münster and Pasewalk appealed to Karlsruhe. In submissions arguing similarly, they considered the criminal provisions of the Narcotics Act to be unconstitutional insofar as they relate to the handling of cannabis. Against the background of several ongoing proceedings, the district courts asserted that the cannabis ban disproportionately interfered with the general freedom of action protected by the Basic Law, the general right of personality and the freedom of the person.
On the other hand, the Karlsruhe judges ruled that the district courts in their submissions had presented no decision-making relevance for all of the criminal provisions submitted for the respective initial proceedings. The increased justification requirements necessary for a new submission were not met. There is also a lack of a substantiated presentation of legally relevant changes in the factual and legal situation that would be suitable for prompting a new examination of the questions clarified in 1994.
Cannabis clubs are set to open soon
The attempted change arose in the course of the planned partial legalization of cannabis. In future, the possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis and the cultivation of three female plants per person for personal consumption will be legal in Germany. Accordingly, cannabis should be decriminalized. According to information from the editorial network Germany (RND), this is what the revised legal plans of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach from the SPD provide for.
In addition, so-called cannabis social clubs are legalized. These associations provide their members with cannabis products from their own cultivation. This model already exists in Spain and Malta.